Warren H Williams & Dani Young team up for new duets album

July launch at Rooty Hill RSL

ICONIC Indigenous country music artist Warren H. Williams has teamed up with rising star Dani Young for a very special album release, due to launch in Sydney next month.

The duet album – Desert Water – is a unique collaboration featuring world-class original, yet traditional-style songs. The album launch, to be held at Rooty Hill RSL on Friday July 22, will not only feature the new songs including the already acclaimed single Two Ships, but also a string of special guests.

Known for his recognisable husky voice, Warren is considered one of Australia’s finest. The album is stand-out, with the differing honey tones of Dani’s voice resulting in a beautiful duet harmony.

The two headed to Nashville to record Desert Water, making it a historic trip. This album is the first musical union of an indigenous and non-indigenous singing duo recorded in the country music capital, Nashville.

Produced by country music icon and Grammy award-winner, Billy Yates, Desert Water also features a track with Grammy award-winning country music singer Jim Lauderdale. Everyone worked in sync to bring this album to life from the demo tapes Warren and Dani had put together in the Central Australian desert.

“The recording was unbelievable,” says Warren. “The musicians are so good, and well the finished product speaks for itself.”

Warren H. Williams is an Aranda man and one of Australia’s most highly decorated Aboriginal artists.

Warren has been honing his skills on the guitar since he first picked one up with his father, country music singer Gus Williams.

A man of many talents, he also holds the honour of writing the first ever Central Australian Indigenous musical, Magic Coolamon, and of writing and directing episodes of the Aboriginal television series, Our Place.

An old hand when it comes to talented inspirational collaborations, Warren was nominated at the ARIA’s and the Golden Guitars for his work with John Williamson in the duet Raining on the Rock. This collaboration, in addition to his solo work, also saw him proudly take out the Deadly Awards more than once since 1998 along with NAIDOC Artist of the Year in 2006.

Warren and Dani teamed up in Alice Springs through the Central Australia radio station CAAMA. The fortuitous meeting through the station resulted in conversations about their mutual love of traditional country music, with inspiration from this leading to the duo casually playing guitar and singing together.

“It was the love of music that got us playing together,” says Warren of the collaborative effort. “Then we found out that we can write songs together and it worked out so well.”

Clearly a musical match made to be, Williams and Young took less than a year to write, record and produce their distinctive duet album.

The duo has been described as a meeting of complementary opposites with Warren coming from the desert and Young harking from the city, and their differences in age and experience meeting to make a perfect musical match. They bring life to the songs, hashing them out from ideas influenced by the Central Australian desert and the importance of appreciating the land and the precious gift of water.

Dani is clearly a talented and evocative writer in her own right, bringing a musical style advanced far beyond her years.